Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Trying To make A Decision???

Hey everyone...I am trying to decide something..I have an older Harman Kardon AVR55 its out dated big time ( it has on AC-3) But My budget is very limited to around 400 dollors canadain..I am only 19 but I have my own place a bigish type room about 13 by around 23 but where the system is its about 13 by 13. I was looking at maybe the Sony STRDE567 (299.00) or the STRDE197(199.00) they both look like a good deal but will I be losing quailty from going from a once 1100.00 reciver to A Sony, any help would be awesome..thanks guys!

Sean H.

Does your current receiver have digital inputs? Optical or coax? If so, most new dvd players decode the Dolby Digital and/or DTS themselves, and you just need a receiver to accept the signal. If that's the case, I'd keep your current HK.

If that's not the case, I'd look into an entry level Denon. I don't care much for the low end Sony products at all.

Finally let me add that the best policy is to by your system piece by piece. Get one component at a time, and get the best you can at that time. Don't go cheap just so you can afford a whole new setup at once. You'll only end up disapointed in what you've got, and upgrade everything again...spending MUCH more money in the long run. If a receiver is what you need now, I'd get the best receiver I could for the $400CAD that you have. Then start saving up for the next piece, so on and so forth. It's taken me about 2+ years to upgrade my system, and I'm still a DVD player and TV away from being done. But I'm HAPPY AS HELL with all the pieces I've bought.

Good luck!

btw...what speakers do you have now?

Thanks for the info..yeah ture i will save lots in the end..yeah the HK has toshlink and coax digtal connections...the reciver is pretty limited ( with features) like X-over's and customzation...I have M22ti, M40tis, Vp150,EP-125..a 4 year old toshiba dvd player...

Are you sure they do the decoding before they send it across the digital connection? I was of the impression that they just sent it then the receiver did the decoding.

Some actually do the decoding themselves. My old Panasonic in fact does the decoding itself. I bought it specifially because my old Onkyo receiver could not decode.

Maybe fewer do the decoding themselves than I thought. Dunno.

Actually, If you want the DVD player to do the decoding, you have to use the analog outputs to the receiver and use PCM in the players settings. If you use a digital connection, then the receiver does the decoding.

Sean
PM me. I have H/K AVR 130 you might be interested in.
I only used it for 2 or 3 months, before I gave in to the upgradeitis.

That's what I thought. But hey, I've been pretty wrong before when it comes to the DVD thang.